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| Hamilton: Liburd Wasting Taxpayers’ Money |
| By Sheena Brooks |
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Hon. Eugene Hamilton |
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Hon. Eugene Hamilton claims Cedric Liburd’s election petition is a “waste of the people’s money” and the court’s time.
Liburd filed the legal petition in February challenging Hamilton’s eligibility to hold a seat in the Federal Parliament on the basis that Hamilton is the holder of a Green Card and therefore a permanent resident of the United States. Liburd’s lawyer Dr. Henry Browne contends that Hamilton has sworn allegiance to a foreign power and thus is in violation of election laws and the Constitution.
Hamilton defeated his St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party counterpart during the January Federal Elections to become the parliamentary representative for Constituency #8.
Legal representatives for Hamilton and Liburd presented closing arguments before BVI Judge Indra Hariprashard-Charles at the High Court in Basseterre on Monday. The Judge informed that she would render a decision in August as to whether the case would proceed to trial.
Hamilton told The Observer that he does not have to wait until August for a decision, since Liburd “has no case” and is simply “wasting the court’s time”.
“He cannot succeed; he had no case in the first place. The judge doesn’t have to make a decision, the decision is made for her. My case is complete. They are wasting the country’s money and the court’s time; paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to people for nothing. They brought in a high-priced lawyer from Jamaica paid for by the government and paid the expert witness from New York, another set of money again. That’s not paid by Cedric Liburd and he is the one bringing the petition, but the Attorney General stepped in to pay for him,” the PAM Deputy Leader said.
During the legal proceedings Liburd’s lawyer admitted a statement from U.S. immigration lawyer Ted J.Chiappari, which according to his sworn statement was provided at the request of the Attorney General Hon. Patrice Nisbett.
“As part of the application process for U.S. citizenship the naturalization applicant must take the following oath [U.S. Oath of Allegiance] in a public ceremony…There is no such oath required to become a lawful permanent resident,” according to the Chiappari’s witness statement.
Hamilton said, “We relied on their expert witness statement. They obviously knew that this case wasn’t going anywhere. They gave a passport number then showed up to say that they are not relying on passport and number anymore because from the very beginning they knew that there was no passport. They wanted to test the Green Card theory and their expert witness’ testimony shows that they were only interested in the Green Card because they did not address anything else.”
Liburd, too, expressed confidence with his petition and court proceedings thus far.
“I am pleased with the hearing over the past two days and that my lawyers were able to present the necessary evidence,” he said. |
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